Before He Cheats
by Gilmore-007
Summary: Kinda AU PunchDrunkLoveDuo! "...because the last thing I'll be caught dead doing is marrying a cheater," Story revolves around why Rory declined Logan's proposal...she gets a little help from a certain somebody. **FINISHED!**
1. The Question

A/N: This is my first ever fanfic

**A/N: This is my first **_**ever**_** fanfic. Aren't you proud Gilmore Girls got this fantastic honor? Hehe, anyways...caution to all: this isn't a Rogan story. My apologies if I led you on...this is a Rory/Finn...two or three shot, maybe? I don't know...if I end up getting reviews from ya'll, I might continue. So, this is all about a (possible) reason as to why Rory declined Logan's proposal, and ends up asking his best friend if Logan will ditch the cheating characteristic. I know that Rory responded to said proposal, like, the next day, but I added about a two week period between the two events. Rory's response is a little more dramatic and...wordy. Slightly AU I suppose. I'm not exactly sure as to what "AU" means, but I think I got it right. Now...dramatic music...Story Time!!**

**Disclaimer: So not mine. CW's. Er...used to be, I suppose, seeing as GG is canceled.**

_"...will you marry me?"_

Logan's words echoed in Rory's head as she opened the little velvet box that held her engagement ring. Cheap lighting from the only lamp she bothered to leave on danced on the absurdly expensive diamond, giving the ring a sort of unique quality that made Logan's proposal seem a little bit more special.

The corner of her lips turned up in an attempt at a smile as she slipped the ring on her finger. The formed gold band hugged her finger perfectly.

Not able to resist, she stretched out her arm and wiggled her fingers, loving the way the ring complimented her hand. When she moved, the flimsy cardboard box she was sitting on shifted, causing it collapse. She landed with an animated 'thump' on the carpeted floor, but she barely noticed she fell, completely transfixed by the new jewelry she heavily debated on, trying to decide if she was going to add it to her collection or not.

Her weak smile was now a full blown grin as she brushed herself off and stood up, walking to the other side of her apartment to the kitchen, where she left her cell phone when she ordered take-out earlier. She flipped the screen on her Sidekick, a present her father gave her a while ago for...well...existing. She hit the #2 speed dial and examined a note on the counter from Paris, which stated that Rory "better get her ass in gear because I didn't pay last month's rent and you need to get your stuff out of here before the landlord waves a crack pipe in your face claiming that your money was keeping him alive, dammit!"

"More like a heroin needle," Rory mumbled to herself as she listened to the tinny ring of her mother's phone in her ear.

_"You've reached me and the reason that I'm not answering the phone is because I'm putting on a little black dress to try to persuade the Dali Lama that he should give me his yoga mat."_

After the beep, Rory left her message; "Mom! You need to call me back_ as soon as possible!_" she exclaimed, barely able to contain her excitement, "I'm almost absolutely sure about the Logan situation. I mean, I was trying on my ring for, like, the twentieth time and it just dawned on me that Logan is the most honest, true, cutest, faithful guy on the pl-" her sentence was abruptly cut of when she realized that she was fooling herself. Faithful? Who was she kidding? "...Oh, God."

With shaky hands, she hit a number on her phone to finish the message, and then another to delete it. There was no reason to worry her mother with false information. Rory couldn't believe that she was so opaque to the "Logan situation." She put her Sidekick back on the counter. Immediately after, she pulled the ring off her finger with a smidge more of force than it would take any other person. "Oh, God," she repeated, shoving her engagement ring back in it's box and snapped it shut, tossing the container into her purse.

She picked her phone back up and dialed Logan's office number with a pace that would make K.I.T.T. jealous, "Pick up the damn phone, Logan," she growled when he didn't answer. Eventually, she just hung up. Rory sighed, feeling empty inside as she ran her fingers through her hair, mulling over the details to support her thesis of the probability of him cheating on her...again. Her true reporter was definitely kicking in. _'I mean, it's not like it was just one girl..._' Rory thought bitterly to herself, _'it was every single one of Honor's friends. I think I could just barely stand _one_ girl, but five? Six? Seven? Christ, is he going to forget we're married during some godforsaken trip to London? Get that infuriating Bobbi- was that her name? -girl knocked up? That would sure be a fiasco...who does he think he is? The next Bill Clinton? I sure as hell am not Hillary...'_ Rory's thoughts wandered off as she left her crummy apartment, half of her stuff still not packed.

She slammed the door behind her, making the whole hallway shake something fierce and only engaged two of the hundred thousand locks on the entrance. Paris was going to kill her when she found out about the boxes, but the locks, too? Tsk-tsk, Rory Gilmore. '_Paris can stick it up her ass,'_ she thought icily as she made her way to Finn's apartment, _'because that last thing I'll be caught dead doing is marrying a cheater,'_

**GGGG**

"Finn!" Rory yelled as she banged her fist on his door, "Finn, its Rory!" Rory's knocking tapered off when she realized that she could no longer feel her right hand. She crossed her arms across her chest, standing defiantly in the hallway, knowing perfectly well that Finn was there. He was most likely not sober enough to drag his drunken self to the door was all.

Rory stepped forward again and was about to make another attempt at shattering his door to pieces when Finn ripped it open, facing the little brunette who jerked him from his sleep, "Jeez, Reporter Girl, what in the fat hell is you major malfunctio—"

Rory's fists clenched when she interrupted his declaration of her "major malfunctions." "Finn, will he do it again?" she asked, her eyes having a shiny tint to them.

It took Finn a good three-and-a-half seconds to figure out that the gleam in Rory's eyes were actually the beginnings of tears. He'd never seen his best friend's girl cry before. He'd make sure to delay that moment as long as humanely possible.

"Er- Rory, pet?" Finn said in a vain attempt to try to console her and postpone the true meaning of her cryptic question, "You can't stand like that in the corridor, love."

"Oh," Rory responded blandly, pushing by him and stepping into his place. Her eyebrows suddenly perked up, "Finn, why isn't your stuff packed ? Graduation's in a few days...you must have enough marbles in that skull of yours to comprehend the fact that you need to take all of you crap somewhere else. Soon."

"I...I, uh, won't be graduating in...a few days, " Rory already knew why, but she asked it anyways, "I don't have enough credits."

"_What?"_

"I don't have enough credits,"

"Finn, I swear to God..."

"I'm taking the summer program,"

"You shouldn't have to do that. You're smarter than that. I know you are," Rory said, shifting her stare to bore right into his eyes.

There was an awkward silence before Rory saw Finn change his weight to the other foot and an extremely light hint of pink clouding his face. You had to be looking for it to notice. She heard him quickly switch the subject, clearly not wanting to dwell on his latent brilliance, "You had a question for me?" he said, a master at regaining his composure. Rory's face suddenly turned ashen when she remembered why she was in his apartment in the first place, "Coffee," Finn suddenly blurted.

"Huh?" Rory snapped back to attention, "Coffee?"

"Aye,"

"...it's two in the morning..."

"Decaf. Dearie, I'm not that dense."

"Coffee will be great..." she responded blankly, following his form to his kitchen island where upon sat some sort of protein shake in a blender, a knife block, and a coffee maker. She watched him retrieve the coffee filters from some random drawer. She also watched the way his factory-ripped two hundred dollar jeans creased when he walked and the way his pinstripe dress shit's first three buttons were undone, which emphasized the style of how the garment hung on his broad shoulders.

Rory sharply sucked in her breath and mentally punched herself in the face for being a hypocrite. And Logan was the cheater? _She_ was the one who wanted to jump his best friend's bones. She was disgusted with herself, "So...uh," her voice was quavered, but Finn didn't notice, "My question..."

He was finished setting up the coffee and was now reaching into the fridge for...a Pepsi?

"Finn," she said in a motherly way, "you'll be up all night."

He grinned, showing off his perfect, white, straight teeth, "Wouldn't be the first time, love" Finn chuckled, opened up the bottle of Instant Teeth Liquidizer, and added on, "Damn redheads..."

Surprisingly, Rory didn't crack a smile at his joke, but just stood there looking venerable, "Pet," Finn said softly, propping himself on top of the counter and started swinging legs back and forth because that's what people do when their feet don't touch the ground. And when someone's trying to lighten the mood.

He set his Pepsi next to him and laid a hand on Rory's shoulder before saying, "So...what was that question?"

Rory took a few shaky breaths before asking, "Will Logan cheat on me when we're married?"

All Finn could do was stare at her stupidly.

It was a good two minutes before he responded.


	2. Cassandra

**A/N: Anyways...most likely I'll actually add on another chapter today. I have a monster of a cold that's enabling me to stay home from school...I've also been enlightened to me as to what 'AU' means.**

**Disclaimer: I am the owner of...nothing. Just this treacherous cold that's beating the bag out of me.**

"I..." Finn stumbled, not quite sure of how to word what he was going to say to this beautiful creature standing before him who was asking if his best mate was going to cheat on her.

Rory searched his eyes for any sort of clue as to what his response would be, but Finn kept his expression blank as he screwed the cap off of his Pepsi bottle and took an unnecessarily long gulp, "Finn?" she asked nervously, taking refuge in playing with the hem of her shit, "You can tell me later...if you want."

Finn shook his head, avoiding any possible eye contact with her, "I think it's important that you know who he is,"

"Logan? Finn, he's been my boyfriend for the past 3 years," she let a slight smile slip out.

Finn slid off his perch on the counter and went over to the coffee maker that had been buzzing for the past couple minutes, "Coffee's ready, love," he responded with an eerie hollow in his voice. He shuffled over to a rack on the wall and closed his hand around a 'Yale' ceramic mug and poured Rory her coffee. Rory didn't think that she ever seen Finn shuffle in all her life. Even when his eyes were crossed at frat events, he always managed to have an extra bounce in his step.

"Uh, thank-you," Rory responded when he handed her the mug filled to the brim with God's wonderful contribution to the world's uncanny amount of unhealthy beverages.

"I don't think you know everything."

Rory tilted her head a slight bit to the right, genuinely confused. Rory didn't get confused very often, "What do you mean?"

"Did he tell you about Cassandra?"

"Cassandra who?" Rory took the first sip of her steaming drink, "This is _really_ good cof—"

"That _asshole_," Finn swore profanely, interrupting Rory's complement.

She widened her eyes and slammed the coffee mug back on the counter, thinking the comment was directed towards her. Hot coffee spilled over the sides and onto her hands. She pulled them away from the mug like she had been stung, "Son of a _bitch_," she swore under her breath.

"Rory!" Finn exclaimed, immediately rushing to her side when he heard her yell.

"God, that hurt..." Rory muttered, trying to ignore Finn's commanding presence next to her.

"Are you alright?" he asked, extremely concerned about the state of her physical being.

"Yeah," she said flexing her fingers to make sure they all worked. They did.

"Here," Finn said calmly, taking her hand in his, apparently not believing her. Rory looked down at her small manicured hand in his big one, liking they way they looked together and the circumspect attitude he used in an attempt to prove that she, in fact, wasn't alright.

"They may be a little red for a while, but nothing a good burn ointment won't fix..." he mumbled to himself and started to fade off until her reached her fourth finger, "Hmm...it looks as if this one got the worst of it."

Rory nearly laughed at the irony, "My ring finger."

Finn nodded as her turned her hand around and started to trace the lines of her palm with his thumb, but Rory suddenly jerked away, "Sorry," Finn said, instantly assuming that he accidentally touched her burn and hurt her, "I wasn't being careful enough."

"No," she said, her voice shaking for the second time since she'd rudely waltzed in his apartment an hour ago, "it's not you fault." The truth of the matter was Finn didn't hurt her at all. Not even in the slightest bit. She abruptly broke the contact because the way he touched her caused her whole damn arm to do a funny tingling thing. A funny tingling thing that had nothing to do with the burn.

"Uh, how about you take a seat on the couch or something...I'll get you a band-aid," Finn offered, making his way towards the bathroom. Rory was about to tell him that she didn't need one and that she'd be fine, but he had already disappeared around the corner.

Rory gingerly sat on the edge of Finn's couch, examining the dozens of magazines, newspapers and textbooks spread about his coffee table. He had everything from Newsweek to Sports Illustrated to the New York Times. She had no idea the Finn read so much. He seemed like the type of guy who skipped through parts of Flemming's "Jaglon" for an English assignment, definitely not wanted to be bothered with something so...boring as reading a stop sign. Clearly, she didn't know anything about him.

"Ah-ha!" she heard Finn declare from somewhere down the hall. A few seconds later he appeared beside her, grinning like the Cheshire cat with an emergency med kit in hand, "Here we go..." He sat down on the couch beside her and used the remote he retrieved from the depths of the cushions to turn on the television. A Magic Bullet infomercial was on. Some lady with really big hair and a yellow sundress that would make Janice Dickinson cry, "Foul!" was promoting the product in good graces, claiming that you could make salsa in 30 seconds.

Rory laughed and told Finn, as he was wrapping up her finger, that she could make salsa faster than this so called "Magic Bullet." All she had to do was walk over to the fridge and get some.

Smiling, Finn said, "That reminds me of this time I was with Colin at a party in the Branford dorms. It was a huge deal with banners everywhere and girls so drunk they danced topless on the counters," he told Rory that he made that part up when he saw her shocked expression, but in reality they were stark naked, "I was chatting it up with some blonde chick who said she met Prince William last week when Colin come rushing up to me with an extremely wild expression on his face yelling something about how some guy bought the value jar of salsa at BJ's and was now chugging it down with a funnel."

"_Please_ don't tell me he threw up," Rory said, wincing.

"Of course he did, pet. That's why he did it in the first place."

Rory just shook her head, smiling to herself, never quite knowing what out there story Finn was going to throw at her next, "Thank-you," she said when he was finished with his medical duties.

Finn got up to put away the leftover garbage, so Rory leaned back into the couch, now watching a Bowflex commercial. Apparently the station could stand the big lady for so long.

Rory sighed as she looked at her patched up finger, desperately hoping the swelling would go down so her ring would fit properly. She knew somewhere deep inside her that she would most likely accept Logan's proposal seeing as Finn would have told her if the deal with this Cassandra was really that bad.

Rory's thoughts were barely completed when she heard her phone ring somewhere in the vicinity of her purse. She smiled when she saw that it was her mom calling and answered right away, "Hey, mom," she said brightly.

"Guess what?"

"...what?"

"Taylor broke his arm!" Lorelai exclaimed, almost sounding happy to announce that Stars Hollow's Town Selectman suffered from a painful injury.

"No way!" Rory said in disbelief, "how?"

"Banana peel," was the simple response.

"Weird."

"How so?"

"I thought that was how he broke his leg two or three years ago."

"I dunno, maybe...but you should see him, wonderful daughter of mine, his whole arm is wrapped up. Not just like to the elbow or something lame like that. I swear, he looks like the Invisible Man."

"I've _got_ to see this."

"Hell yeah, you do. Come down this weekend or something and you'll get to. That is, of course, if Paris hasn't chained you to the bed like Boo Radley while she packs all your stuff for you."

Rory couldn't help but smile because that sounded exactly like something her anal roommate would do, "I'll definitely be down this weekend Mom, I just finished the last of my finals. Also..." Rory added a dramatic pause, "I just may have and answer to the Logan situation for you..."

"Girl, you're killing me! You can't leave me on a cliffhanger like that! I have to wait a whole _four_ days!"

"Fine," Rory said, giving in the slightest bit, "I'll give you a hint."

"Hallelujah,"

"Well..." More dramatic pausing, "I'm borderline deciding tha— got to go."

Rory heard her mother say something about "torture" before Rory snapped her phone shut with a guilty look on her face when Finn re-entered the room.

He quirked a brow, "Who was that?" and handed her a fresh cup of coffee, sitting beside her while opening a new bottle of soda for himself.

"My mother."

"...sure it was, love."

"Honest. I...lost connection."

Another quizzical look crossed his face before he asked, "Do you mind if I change the channel? Sweaty men working out make my skin crawl."

Rory shook her head as Finn flipped through the channels, "_Capote!_" she suddenly yelled when the television produced one of her favorite biographical movies.

"Huh? This one? Rory, sweet, this is one of the most boring things to ever hit the silver screen."

"So not true..."

"I beg to differ."

"Do you _really_ want to argue with me? Is that what you want? I could state dozens upon dozens of statistical facts that would make your brain implode." Rory fabulous at debating because she had rapid fire speech and a memory that would make an elephant cry.

Finn smiled and nodded, "I take the challenge...right after we discuss Cassandra."

Rory took a delicate sip of her coffee, not exactly fancying burning herself to a crisp once again, "Who _is_ she?"

Finn took a deep breath before telling a story that could quite possible change Rory's life, "Cassandra is Logan's ex-fiancé."

"..._excuse_ me?"

"It's probably best that I start from the beginning, eh?"

"No shit, Sherlock."

Another deep breath was taken and a hasty sip from his soft drink before Finn continued, "They met sophomore year of high school and hit it off pretty well. They went out for a few weeks until Logan had to change schools for the second time that semester because of...unruly...conduct. Keep in mind that this wasn't his first girlfriend. Every new school he'd get a new girl and dump her when it was time to switch. This time, however, Logan didn't have the heart to break up with her. There was something about her that really clicked with him," Rory nodded because she started to realize that this was one of Finn's stories that actually had a point, "So, they kept in touch. They would meet up as often as possible- usually weekends- but somehow, someway, Logan managed to get attached to this girl. Their relationship was like a rock all through junior and senior year. I have absolutely no idea how he did it."

"Maybe he changed," Rory suggested.

Finn did his best to ignore her comment and continued, "Right before high school graduation, he proposed. She said yes, cried a lot and told her parents who were so proud of her for marrying rich. During the summer between high school and Yale, Logan traveled about the country with his father to all the newspaper agencies her owned. Logan was gone most of the summer and when he returned, he had some slutty ass girl from L.A. on his arm."

"Oh, my God," Rory said in shock. She was definitely starting to grasp the concept of Finn's story now.

Finn kept his blank stare ahead, not able to bear making eye contact with Rory, "He cheated on her, love. So bad. They were engaged to be married but he threw it all away from some girl with big tits who ended up dumping him in the ditch a month later."

Rory just sat there, unable to find any words, "Why...? Why didn't he tell me?" her voice was vacant and emotionless. She couldn't even find the heart to shed a few tears.

"Because that's not Logan's way. He's a secret keeper. There a many things that _I_ don't even know about him."

"H—," Rory stopped, unsure of how to word her question. She leaned forward to place her coffee on the table in front of her, moving a magazine out of the way as she did so. A cold feeling draped over her and her finger started to pound, "How do you know..._this_?"

"...Cassandra w-was..." Finn's voice drifted off and Rory expected him to say she was an ex.

"...was what?" she asked softly, taking his hand.

"Cassandra was my sister."

"...was?"

"She killed herself, Rory," Finn said in a straight and robotic tone as a lone tear slid down his sharp jaw, "my little sister is dead because of him."

**A/N: Feelin' the drama? If not I should most likely re-arrange my priorities 'cause my story telling must blatantly suck ass. Ack. Review, review, review!!**


	3. Help With the Border

A/N: This chapter may get a little cough, cough touchy feely later on

**A/N: This chapter may get a little cough, cough touchy feely later on. Thus, if any of you feel that I should switch from 'T' to 'M' just let me know...I noticed in first two chapters tabs didn't appear, so hopefully they'll work in this one. Oh, and brilliant question by the way, MaryBBlove23, which will be answered in this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Ha. I wish.**

Rory had no idea what to do. Not only was she trying to deal with the fact that her boyfriend had been keeping a huge secret from her and seriously thinking about staying on the single side of the marriage line, but Finn was...

Finn was crying.

Not bawling, of course, he had only shed a maximum of three tears during his...story. He wiped them away with the back of his hand, making them disappear as quickly as they had come, "Sorry, love," he apologized, "that was uncalled for."

"Finn, you don't have to be so...guarded, you know," Rory said softly as she laid her hand on his knee in an act of comfort.

"Yeah," he said, "yeah, I do."

"It's okay to...to, um, let things out once in a while."

Finn closed his eyes tightly and then opened them again before saying, "Four years ago when I saw the casket go into the ground I told myself that there'd be no more pansy ass feelings any more. So that's what happened. That's what I did. I was the new constantly happy, constantly drunk Finn. He's the carefree one who's only here because his 'rents are so loaded that dollar bills are spilling out of their ears."

Rory had a desperate itch to change the subject because she felt extraordinarily uncomfortable, "I—" she started to say then stopped, feeling her comment to be slightly uncalled for, but then changed her mind, "I don't understand."

Finn gave her a look of disbelief which turned quickly to a look of outrage before he jumped off the couch, "Of course you don't fucking _understand_, Rory! Nobody_ 'understands'_!" he yelled, "The only people who know about her outside of my family are Logan and yourself. That's _it_! What really gets me is the fact that I even _told_ you in the first place!" His face was a dangerous shade of red, so much that Rory got up and stepped a few paces back feeling it best to have a solid object between them. It didn't take very long for her to get pissed off herself.

"I didn't mea--!"

"That _hurt_," he kept his voice raised as he pointed stiffly towards himself, "Do you know that? I just spill my heart out to you for Christ knows what reason and in the end you don't even bloody understand?!"

"Finn!" she yelled back, getting frustrated, "Let me expl—"

He just interrupted her again, but this time in a much lower and quieter tone that had an edge of roughness. A sort of edge that made Rory fifty times more frightened than before. He was breathing hard when he said in that cold way, "You know what? I'm just going to let you marry his dumb ass. You're asking to get hurt, Gilmore. That's why you," he put a break in his sentence to point at her, "coaxed him into commitment in the first place. You wanted to change him, Rory, because you thought you coul—"

"_Please_!" she cried, "please, Finn, stop! That's not what I meant at all!"

Rory would swear on JFK's grave that she saw his jaw drop, "What?"

"That's not what I meant," she replied, feeling the need to repeat herself.

"Then please enlighten me," he said, throwing his hands up in the air, "as to what you did mean."

"I understand about your sister and what it's like to have someone you love slip through your fingers," she said quietly, her voice barely above a whisper as she took a hesitant step towards Finn, "but what I don't understand is why you and Logan are friends. After everything."

Finn opened his mouth and then promptly closed it as if he wanted to say something and then forgot what it was, "Just a moment," he said and put his hand up as if to signal Rory to stay where she was even thought he knew damn straight that she wasn't going anywhere. She was a reporter at heart. Reporters didn't go anywhere when they had a good story looking them in the face, personal or not.

Rory stayed rooted on the spot until Finn came back with a dusty Nike shoebox in his hand "Are you trying to sell me shoes?" she asked in a vain attempt to ease the tension.

Finn shook his head, "This...this is a box."

"Congratulations..."

"A very important box."

"Prove it."

Finn smiled, "But I'm not going to show it to you until you make a decision about you marriage."

"_How_ is that fair?"

"It isn't fair in the slightest."

"You are a cruel, cruel being."

Finn chuckled and put the box under his arm, "When Logan and Cass were in the peak of their relationship, he and I became the best of friends," he said, calming down a great degree as he met her halfway, placed his hand on her shoulder and guided her back to the couch so she could sit back down. He took a seat next to her, placed the Nike box on the coffee table and ignored magazines and continued, "nothing he could have possibly done could have wrecked the friendship we had. We were the two kids who blew up mailboxes on the street corners because we had nothing better to do...the kids who were featured everyday in eleven o'clock evening news as the 'two teenage hooligans' who broke into the convenience store only to rearrange everything in the opposite order. We were _best friends_, love."

"He destroyed your sister..."

"That he did. Granted, I didn't speak to him for months because I thought of him as a pompous ass, but there was no way of erasing what had already been built."

_Capote_ was still playing on the television and was only a few minutes from being over when Rory said, "I don't know what to do."

Finn just smiled as he re-gained interest in his Pepsi, "I gave you the pieces to puzzle, Reporter Girl, all you need to do is put them together."

"You never told me there were a hundred billion of them," Rory grumbled as the credits to the movie appeared on the screen.

"Well," Finn said softly as he leaned forward to brush a stay lock of hair out of her eyes where upon the gnawing feeling in his gut drove him to cup her chin, "in that case I'll help you put together the border."

"Finn, I—" she breathed, but was stopped when his lips brushed hers. It was soft, sweet, quick and meant as something for Rory to ponder while deciding if she was going to marry her cheater of a boyfriend or not. However, one cannot ponder life changing information without a reliable percentage details to base said information on.

When Rory saw Finn pull away and direct his attention back to the scrolling television, "Don't..." she whispered, grasping the collar of his shirt and pulling him back towards her to kiss him for real, so she could shut up the little voice in the back of her head.

His reaction was instant, she could tell, because of the way his pulse jumped in his neck when she laid her hands on his chest which then wandered to his back to quench the need of feel. His own hand was at the back of her head, the fingers tangling themselves in her hair while the other was right above her knee, moving its way up. She leaned back into the cushions of the couch and adjusted her position so he could kiss more deeply, which the one and only thing her body was craving.

He tasted like the soda he was drinking earlier which succeeded in flinging her hormones into overdrive and causing her to fumble with the buttons of his shirt. Unsuccessful in being calm and collected, Rory just used the strength she was born with to rip open the rudely offending piece of clothing, sending buttons scattering all over the wood floor, '_How undeniably smooth,'_ she thought numbly to herself. She could no longer think criticizing comments to herself because his tongue slid past hers and he accidentally bit her lip.

"Sorry, love," he grunted and went on with what he was doing. Their legs were intertwined in a vine-like fashion while Rory felt the heat emanating from him in an extraordinary amount. No longer about to deny human nature, she let a sigh as he kissed down to the hollow of her neck until he reached the edge of her shirt.

"Off," was the only thing she could say, which Finn was more than happy to oblige to. The shirt landed on top of the T.V, blocking Gracie Hart's view of the scene going on before them. He was busy with the hooks of her bra while Rory used an astonishing amount of force to undo his belt. She inwardly winced at her unintentional brutality, but inwardly cringed when she finally heard her cell phone ringing. It was in the last few notes of Billy Joel's "Big Shot" when her fogged mind noticed, "Phone!" she heard herself cry, shoving Finn off her and practically diving across the coffee table to retrieve the item.

"Don't answer it!"

"I have to!" Rory countered, pressing the little green button without bothering to check the caller ID, "Hello?"

That was a mistake.

"Hey, Ace, thought I'd check up on my girl," a voice said, full of cheer and...unknowing obliviousness.

"L-Logan?" Rory stuttered, seeing a look of complete disappointment of himself on Finn's face.

**A/N: I've come to a realization that this chap may be a little more than choppy, but there's no way in hell I'm going to do it all over again. My eyeballs feel like they're going to roll right out of my skull. Anywho, hope this did something to all ya'll and your reviewing minds.**


	4. Lies

**A/N: I was just reading through my past chapters and it shocked me as to how many times I've used the word 'shit' instead of 'shirt.' Whoa. I'll be little more attentive this time…XD**

**Disclaimer: Funny. Ha.**

Finn just about lunged across the room and tackled Rory, which in turn caused the line between her and her boyfriend to be cut short, "_What's the matter with you_?" he hissed.

"Are you for _real_?" she shouted, shoving him back with more force than a girl her size would normally emit, "Do you think he's not going to call back? You're the one with the damn problem!"

Finn just gave her a glare as he buckled his jeans and turned to dig his shirt that was all smashed between the cushions, "Thank-you," he said with a sarcastic iciness as he threw his hands up in the air, causing the garment to reveal his broad chest because nothing was left to hold the two sides together, "for vandalizing my possessions. It's not like I just found this in a dumpster behind the hairdresser's shop."

"It's not my fault Armani has ambitions for their clothes to only be sold to piano players," Rory growled, pulling her own shirt violently back over her head, most likely causing the fabric to stretch in an I-just-loaned-this-to-a-professional-wrestler kind of way.

"And it's not _my_ fault you were throwing yourself at me in a fashion that would suggest that Judgment Day is making it's way up the block!"

"I had no idea how much of a pompous ass you really are, Finn Morgan!" Rory whirled on him, closing the distance between them to an uncomfortably close proximity given their previous physical interactions, "Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but you did kiss me first."

"Barely," Finn scoffed, "you were the one who was giving 'I want to make-out with you' signals all evening."

"Not true!"

"Gilmore, don't even pull that one on me. The innocent and confused look I saw in your eyes right before I kissed you that made my insides twist into so many knots it felt like I swallowed a fishing net was done on purpose. I know this because that's the same exact look I see plastered every whore of a girl's face the instant before I screw her brains out."

Rory squared her jaw before taking a slow step backward, not about to show him that he just took her heart in his hands, threw it on the ground and stomped on it.

It took Finn a few seconds to realize exactly what he had just said, "Rory—"

"_Don't._" she said with a definite venom in her voice but also a slight tremor that wasn't nearly as noticeable. She blindly reached behind her for the coffee table and then her phone.

He ran his hands through his love messed hair and took a deep breath while he flipped through the files of his brain for an explanation. Distressingly, just like in that _Spongebob Squarepants_ episode where the sponge couldn't find his name among the many papers in the crevices of his mind, Finn couldn't find the voice within him to tell the gut-wrenchingly gorgeous brunette who was slinging her purse over her shoulder with a mesmerizing flair and walking with confidence to the exit of his apartment, that he cared for her more than he would even dare admit to himself.

"Hey, Zack," Rory said brightly into her phone when in reality she was actually wiping the palms of her sweaty hands off on her jeans as she waited for the elevator she pressed the orange triangle for to appear.

"Oh, Rory…hey," Lane's husband responded in that lazy, sleepy way of his, "calling for Lane?"

"Yeah. She isn't busy, is she?"

"Sorry, babe, but she's feeding the twins right now. Mind if I ask her to call you back?"

"Not at all. Tell her it's…a good thing, though," Rory couldn't help but feel the twist in her stomach, "…about the engagement."

"Sure."

"Thanks, Zack…bye."

"Yup," he said, hanging up. Rory had honestly no idea what her best friend saw in that guy.

Rory stepped into the elevator, trying to ignore that intensely aggravating child pulling on his razzled mother's skirt, begging for some sort of action figure toy that all beings under the age of seven seemed to possess. The mother just pushed the kid off her seeing as she was digging for something in her monster of a purse.

Rory felt the contraption plunge and prayed to all the Christian, Roman, Buddhist and Greek gods that she could think of that the next 23 ½ floors she had to travel went by rather quickly. She flipped through her contacts before she landed on Logan's name. She squeezed her eyes shut partly in attempt to block out that irritating little boy's voice, but mostly because she honestly couldn't believe what she was about to do. Rory took a last deep breath before calling her boyfriend's number.

"Ace?" was the first thing he asked when he picked up, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, Logan, I'm fine. I had to hang up because I was in the library and cell phones are frowned upon like ass crack baring jeans."

He laughed and said, "I never quite grasped the parameters of you humor."

"They're pretty non-existent."

"So it seems."

"…Logan?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you meet me somewhere? I need to talk to you about…something."

"Name the time and place."

"…Yale? In ten minutes?"

She could hear the grin in his voice, "Nothing could stop me."

"Very Spartan of you."

"Thanks, Ror. See you then," Logan hung up before she could respond, most likely racing out the door before she could change her mind.

As she was slipping her phone into her pocket, the annoyance of a child suddenly changed his topic of want to see the latest movie in the theaters. His mother declined his wish, "But why noooot?" he whined, punching the human who gave him life weakly on the thigh.

"Because I said so, Billy," was her harsh response.

Rory bit her bottom lip in a poor attempt to keep her tact. She was seething so bad she swore steam was coming out of her ears because as soon as she heard the cheery 'ding' of the elevator signaling their arrival on the ground floor, she gave the harried lady a piece of her mind, "Do yourself a _favor_ and give your kid a fucking _sedative _before going out in public," her voice was dripping with a disdain she never heard herself utter before to any other person in her life.

"I missed you," Logan whispered into her neck as her hugged her.

"I missed you, too," she heard her mouth say.

He released her and put his hand on the small of her back, leading her to a stone bench right outside of the Advanced Sciences & Research building, "You wanted to meet me?" he asked with a tone that suggested that he knew exactly why he was here.

Rory gave an absent nod, "Yeah."

"…what about?"

Rory pulled her purse onto her lap, and dragged out a jewelry box that felt extremely in her hand. With stiff fingers, she lifted up the lid to reveal an engagement ring she felt somehow didn't rightly belong to her. Feeling as if a puppeteer was pulling stings inside her to make her do a dance in a twisted comedy, Rory slid the ring onto her finger.

She heard Logan's breath catch and felt the last of the orchid scented June wind blow through her hair as she turned towards her future fiancé and looked him in the eyes, for once ignoring her heart that now lay broken in pieces on Finn's lushly carpeted floor before saying just above a whisper with the slightest hint of a crack in her voice, "I accept your proposal."

**A/N: And you thought she'd say 'No.' Hehe, all you need to do is review and then read some more 'cause there are dozens of more twists coming…. "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."**


	5. Telling the Truth

**A/N: Aye, I know that the last chapter was way more than confusing. I totally just realized that FF has something against asterisks and pound signs. Whatever, lol. I think I found a new way to have a long break between paragraphs that'll actually work. This time, Rory suddenly won't jump without reason from attacking a lady in an elevator to hugging her boyfriend...XD**

**Disclaimer: ...**

It took Finn a good and healthy five seconds after Rory left to grasp the concept that the girl he cared about most in his life was pissed the royal hell off and was about to go do something really, really...bad.

Tell Logan.

Of course she was. Why wouldn't she? Not only was Rory going to blow a gasket on him about the whole Cassandra thing, but she was also furious at his best friend for being a condescending asshole.

Rory had a way of making a situation five hundred times worse by listening to her heart. This time, however, her heart was ripped out of her and in a variety of unrecognizable pieces making it impossible to listen to; therefore she had to pay attention to her mind. A mind that always did the rational thing instead of the romantic one.

_"Shit!_" Finn roared, giving the closest immobile object a hefty kick that would make any self-respecting NFL kicker green with envy. Naturally, Rory didn't come bounding through the door and run up and kiss him to solve all of his problems, but instead got a stubbed toe, "I'm so fucking_ stupid_!" he swore to himself, the comment having more to do with the situation than his throbbing foot.

Finn stomped off to his room and ripped open his dresser drawers, looking for a modest t-shirt versus the expensive...er, _used_ to be expensive button up he was wearing now. Finally, he found an old black AC-DC deal his aunt have him for his twelfth birthday. Finn groaned before putting it on, not believing that the ridiculous thing still fit him. He only had it on his person in college because when his mother threw him out it was also with the request that he took all of his crap with him. He was partially thankful that Auntie bought him things five sizes too big in a firm belief that all of her gifts last him his whole damn life.

A pair of well worn work boots had Finn's feet shoved in them before he made his way out the door, the dented Nike shoebox abandoned on the coffee table.

**GGGG **

He pressed the button for the elevator so hard his whole entire hand started throbbing. This was absolutely nothing to the glare he gave a business man waiting in line behind him who thought it would be a brilliant idea to ask if Finn was alright.

It hurts to see a man over the age of forty cower.

Knowing he couldn't wait much longer and that Rory would be over to Logan's in a matter of seconds, Finn ran down the hall to the opposite end where a flight of stairs waited for him. Ironically, they were empty, which, in turn, was actually a good thing because now he was able to jump down them at five at a time until he reached the bottom.

He shoved the fireproof door open, scaring the pants of some rushed looking lady and her brat of a child who was asking to see some asinine Dr. Seuss movie that was now in theaters, "Sorry," he mumbled, not wanting to be bothered with their existence.

In the lobby, just walking out of the building, Finn saw somebody who looked strikingly like Rory. She had her cell phone plastered to her ear and an expensive Rodeo Drive bag on her shoulder, "Rory!" he shouted, jogging up to her and putting his hand on her shoulder to spin her around.

"Get the hell off me, you jerk-off!" she screamed.

To his horror, Finn saw that this was the wrong Rory.

Whoops.

"My apologies, love," he said quickly and darted out the door and down the sidewalk.

**GGGG**

Finn jammed his hands his pockets, distressed and more than disappointed himself. His work boots scuffed the expensive flagstones underneath his feet that led to the doors of the Advanced Sciences & Research building, not really caring one bit. Yale could just deal with it.

He had searched everywhere he could think of...Logan's place, Rory's apartment, the library, cafeteria, news room and even the football bleachers where she surprisingly liked to study. Rory was an odd character. If she wasn't in the science building he'd have to drive all the way to Stars Hollow as a last resort, not stopping until he told her the truth.

Finn stepped into the foyer and wasn't necessarily looking forward to trapzing around this building for somebody who he knew wasn't inside. His eye caught a pay phone in the corner and a light went off in his head. Maybe he couldn't find Rory, but he would try his damndest to try and delay what she was about to do.

He walked up to the phone, deposited the right amount of coins and dialed Logan's number, knowing that he was more likely to pick up his call than Rory was.

No answer. Perfect.

Grumbling, Finn hung up and was about to turn down the hall when he saw two people through the window outside sitting on a stone bench up against the building. One was a guy, one was a girl. The guy looked as if Cupid just came by half naked and hit him with an arrow, while the girl looked...well, the girl looked..._sick_.

**GGGG**

Rory, with some reluctance, let Logan's arms go around her in a thankful embrace and she hesitantly returned it, not sure of what she had just done. She felt a tear burn at the corner of her eye and she knew that it had nothing to do with her 'eternal happiness' but more to do with the fact that a sharp, intense feeling invaded her sanity and made her whole body chill over, "I love you," she heard Logan whisper.

Shocked, he heard Rory weakly ask, "Finn...?"

He pulled away, confused, "Huh?"

"Finn," she repeated her voice shaky. Her expression was completely blank, but there was no mistaking the undeniable shine of relief in her blue eyes.

"Rory, I don't understan—"

She pointed over Logan's shoulder, "He's here."

"What?" he asked, not comprehending. He got up off the bench and turned to look, slightly short of startled to see his best friend here, "Finn!" he called out, "What's going on?"

Finn walked up to them and his eyes darted from Rory to Logan, "I need to talk to you, mate," he said to his friend in a nervous way that was nothing like him, "it's important."

"Sorry, man, but I'm kind of in the middle of...something."

"What do you mean?" he shot a heated glance at Rory.

"She, uh...we're..." Logan wandered off as he took Rory's hand and helped her up. He put his arm around her waist, completely unaware of the fact that she was avoiding any and all eye contact with Finn.

"We're getting married!" she completed for her fiancé with a definite false brightness.

"_What?_" Finn shouted, the veins protruding from his neck.

"We're getting married," Logan said again for Rory who figured that the low tone in his voice had a lot to do with the Cassandra issue.

"No," was his stern response.

"What do you mean, 'no'?"

"Rory, you can't do this to me," Finn pleaded, ignoring Logan. The look on his face instantly made her regret everything she had just done.

"...Rory?" Logan asked, tilting his head towards her, "What in the _hell_ is he talking about?"

"He's drunk," she said simply, staring right into Finn's eyes with a vacant expression and no emotion at all in her eyes even though it killed her to do so, "and has no idea what he's talking about."

Logan reached into his back pocket and pulled out a well used wallet, preceded by a crisp twenty dollar bill, "I'll pay for a cab to get you home...you can't be walking anywhere like that."

"I'm not _drunk_."

"C'mon, Finn, just take it."

"I'm sorry, Rory, okay? I had no right what-so-ever to say those things. What I did was wrong, stupid, arrogant and I—"

"Stop being a fool," Logan said, "you need to get back to your place before you pass out."

"Oh my _God_!" Rory exclaimed, shoving her finger into Finn's chest, "the last thing you are is '_sorry_,' you asshole. You can't just run around saying things like that to my face thinking it didn't hurt!"

"Mind filling me in?" Logan asked, taking a step back and crossing his arms, a brow raised. They just continued on as if he wasn't even there.

"My head was all scrambled around and messed up! I said that because...because I...I—"

"Because you're a _jerk_!"

"No! I said it because I was scared, alright? Scared."

"Oh please," Rory said with a look of disgust falling across her features.

"Don't you even dare stand there with another man's engagement ring on and tell me—in front of _him_—that you didn't feel anything."

"Finn, I don't think this is the best tim—"

"Something was there, Rory. That's why you kissed me back. I know it."

Now it was Logan's turn to get all fired up. He went right over to Finn, grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and shoved him into the brick wall of the Advanced Sciences & Research building, "_What did you do to her?!"_ Logan roared

"I made out with your girlfriend," he stated simply, unblinking.

Logan brought back his fist and punched Finn so hard in the face, blood spattered all over the wall and the both of them, "No!" Rory screamed, "Stop it!"

She ran up to Logan, trying to get him off the other man, but he just pushed her back, "Stay out of this," he growled.

Finn wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand and snarled, "Touch her again and you better be damn sure to pay attention to how I re-arrange your face so you can put it back together again."

"You're unbelievable,"

"_Me_?" Finn asked, "You're the dumbass who wants to marry this girl only to break her heart!"

"Cass had nothing to do with what's going on here."

"My sister has everything to do with this. I told her, Logan. I told Rory everything."

"Why would you that?"

"She deserves to know that she was about to marry a locker full of secrets, that's why!"

Logan turned towards Rory, "Don't believe a word that comes out of his mouth."

"Too late..." Rory said softly, sliding the ring off her finger and tossing it onto the ground, "I was actually going to marry you, Logan Huntzberger. You were going to be my husband..."

"Rory, don't..." Logan pleaded.

"Let me finish. Please." She took another deep breath, "A few hours ago I went to Finn's apartment to ask him a question..." she noticed that both of them were completely silent as she kept her eyes glued to an empty space above Logan's head, "about if you'd cheat on me again. That's when I learned about Cassandra. I bet she was a good girl, Logan. I suppose, though, that it's kind of hard to be a good girl when you're buried under six feet of dirt," she laughed in a quiet non-comical kind of way, "...any type of girl, really. I then told him I didn't know what to do because I knew that you were an honest and loyal guy at heart, but you just couldn't help yourself. And that's when he kissed me. I dunno, I guess I just wanted to know...so I kissed him back. I wasn't in the library when you called..."

Logan just shook his head incredulous of the whole story even when the tears started flowing down Rory's cheeks, "Finn hung up for me," she continued, "I started getting mad... started saying that you'd call back and stuff like that. He then told me that what we just did meant nothing to him and I made everything up to make him feel bad. That kinda pissed me off and I thought I'd prove it to him...tell him that it meant nothing at all to me, too, when it actually meant everything in the world. I've never felt like that before in my life, Logan. It was almost as if everything came together and made sense when I was with him. Despite it all, I accepted your proposal. Because I'm ignorant," Rory used the sleeve of her shirt to wipe away the tears, but that somehow only made them come down with a more ferocious attitude.

Fighting all rationalism, Finn tried for everything that he was worth to not go up to her, hold her close, kiss her, and tell her that he'd make things better.

But there wasn't any way that was going to happen.

"I'm going for a walk," was Logan's gruff response as he bent down to pick the ring off the ground and then disappeared around the corner.

"F-Finn," Rory choked, the crying leaving a nasty salty taste in her mouth.

"...I'm here, love," he responded with a scratchiness in his throat, feeling her lean into his chest, feeling her arms encircle him, and feeling for the first time his sister died, the world make an attempt at turning again.

**N/A: "Too much **_**drama**_**..." what Rory said when she realized why Logan didn't call her back after her grandparent's vow renewals. Hehe, thought this quote kinda fit here...;**

**Review, review, review!!**

**Yeah, I know the first half was a little bit shaky, but that's because I was typing that part in the middle of a lecture...Sorry!**


	6. Mistake

**A/N: Yes, I am quite aware of the assumptions that surfaced in all ya'll minds after the last chapter. However….this one should add a certain twist in the whole Rory/Finn fiasco. I'm not even sure I'm going to have them end up being together. We'll see!**

**Disclaimer: YES, I OWN GILMORE GIRLS!!**

**Disclaimer of My Previous Disclaimer: What the hell? Do you honestly think I own Gilmore Girls? My, oh my if that is the case than it should be relatively simple to get you to believe that UFO's exist in my writings…jk. **

**The Real and Honest Disclaimer (I swear): I own nothing.**

_One Week Later_

Rory sat in her fiancé's bed, propped up on some crazily expensive pillows imported from Switzerland with a cheap pad of newsprint paper on her lap. In all complete honesty, she actually preferred the two dollar fake polyester cotton deals she got in the back of Doose's market when she was a teenager, but she didn't exactly have the heart to tell Logan that.

Her newly sharpened Ticonderoga pencil scratched the surface of the paper in a frantic frenzy to get all of her thoughts down before she forgot them, acutely unaware that the disgruntled figure laying down next to her with his head jammed between the pillow and the bed was trying to get some sleep, "…Ace?" her asked in a rugged fashion, "Must you write like you intend to be the next Emily Dickenson overnight?"

"It's important," was her quick and short response.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Mmmhm…" she mumbled. Logan was disappointed that she was arranged in a fashion that did not enable him to see what she was writing down. He tried leaning on his elbow and peering over her shoulder, but he got a curt reprimand for his troubles.

"You're blocking my light."

"Your light should be off. It's three in the goddamned morning."

"Huh."

He sighed, flopping back down into the bedcovers, realizing that Rory wasn't going to let up on what she was scripting. He figured he'd just ask, "What are you writing?"

"Nothing."

"Liar."

"Nothing of importance."

"Are you trying to confuse me?"

"Yes," Rory smiled to herself, pleased to see that she was tying Logan's pride into dozens of knots.

"I'm going to sleep…" he grumbled, turning over and burying himself back in the blankets.

"Finally…"

"I heard that."

"I know," she said as she tore a page out of the pad she was writing in, crumbled into a ball and threw it at the television nested comfortably in an entertainment center at the other side of the room. She heard Logan tell her not to do that, but his voice was muffled because of all the bedclothes that were covering him, "…and now," she declared, rather proud of her accomplishments, "I'm finished."

"Thank-you, God!" 

Yup, she heard that one.

"Coffee time…" she said tiredly, climbing out of the bed in one of her future husband's huge t-shirts.

"…coffee?"

"Uh-huh. It's three in the goddamned morning. I'm about to crash," Rory replied, dropping the pad of paper on Logan's form before heading out of the room towards the kitchen.

He shook his head, knowing he'd never be able to understand how her mind worked and the limits to her surprises. Logan pushed himself up, feeling it best to be in a sitting position while he reading Rory's thoughts that were just transformed into text. Not sure of what to expect, he just flipped idly through the first few pages, bracing himself for the onslaught of mathematical figures that were sure to be all over the place.

Okay, there weren't as much as he expected, but there were a still a pretty decent amount, "Wow…" he whispered, transfixed by all the drawings and calculations of how much this wedding was going to cost them. The designer of her dress, the size, color, make, fringe, _everything_ was freakishly noted in neat little columns. She took apart the DJ's estimate and put it in her own terms with his hourly rate and finished pay underlined and circled to be sure that he didn't rip her off in the slightest. "DJ Sam's Awesome Wedding Jams"'s secretary was off by forty-four dollars and sixteen cents. Rory was going to give them hell for that.

Logan flipped the page, looking face-to-face with their invite list. He gaped at the long rows of people's names…there had to be at least two hundred. As he read each and every one, he came to terms that everyone that was attending deserved to be there. Just about all the inhabitants of Stars Hollow, the Gilmores, the Haydens, the Huntzbergers (Christ knew there were boatloads of them). Besides family members there were his 

colleagues and other newspaper giants. People from Yale, people his father new, Rory's childhood friends…she hadn't left out a single breathing person he had ever conversed with in his whole entire life.

Stunned, he kept searching through the pad and saw that every page except the last two were filled on both sides with every thing a wedding needed to be concerned with.

To say the least, he was touched.

Because she cared.

"…Rory?" he called out, his voice a little shaky.

"…Yeah?"

He could tell by her tone that her coffee wasn't even close being done yet. Logan had learned over time that her voice had a certain ring to it when that seductive drink was near. When she yelled back, it didn't have that ring.

Knowing that she could take some time before coming back, he got out of bed in his boxer pants and all of their wedding plans grasped loosely in his hand. His bare feet touched the plush carpet as he turned down the hall into their lavishly decorated kitchen.

He turned the corner to see her small shape seated properly at the counter on a bar stool, legs crossed and she was idly looking through a _Cosmopolitan_. Her right hand was curled protectively around a full cup of steaming coffee.

Alrighty…she wasn't coffee deprived, just distracted. Same thing.

"Rory," Logan repeated.

She looked up, "Hmm?"

"Thank-you."

"For what?" she was exceptionally confused.

"You didn't…" he struggled to find the right words so he placed the pad of paper on the counter, "You didn't have to do all of…this."

"Of course I did," she gave him a little smile.

"But you don't want to get married."

Rory sighed, getting off her stool; drink still in hand, "I do want to, Logan…"

"What about Fi—"

"The small, diminutive, next to non-existent thing I did with Finn is forgotten," she interrupted sharply, "_Forgotten_."

Logan just blinked. Rory was almost never rough with him, "I-I know…"

"Good…I did all the planning because I am an all or nothing type of girl."

"Tell me about it," he chuckled, lightening up. 

"I go into things and events a hundred ten percent."

"We could've done it in like the Town Hall or something…We don't need this."

Rory shook her head, "Don't be ridiculous."

"Still," he said softly, taking a step towards her and laying a gentle kiss on her forehead, "Thank-you."

He started to walk back to the bedroom but was stopped because Rory caught hold of the edge of his shirt and pulled him back.

She met the front of his chest with a satisfying contact, reached up behind his head to bring him down and kissed him right. Her mouth was already hot from the coffee she was drinking, so it wasn't like she had to do a lot to get him all worked up. He took a while to figure out what was going on, but once he did it was like someone lit a match and dropped it into his stomach, "Damn, Gilmore," he breathed.

Rory smiled against his lips and kissed him more deeply and intensely, her hands wandering all over him; his back, under his shirt and started playing with the edge of the waistband of his pants, "I need this, Logan," she murmured.

"Me too," he grunted, pausing only for a fraction of a second to lead her to their room, pulling his shirt over his head as he did so.

**GGGG**

_Rory laid in the Finn's arms for the last few blessed moments she had left before Logan was sure to come barreling around the corner of the building, ax in hand._

_ She gently pulled away, but only cried more when he leaned forward slightly and wiped away her tears with the pad of his thumb. She reached up and took his hand in hers, linking their fingers together, and "I hate to do this to you."_

_ "…Do what?"_

_"This isn't right."_

_ "It feels right, Rory," she saw him pleading with her with his eyes, but she took a step backwards and crossed her arms, barring herself against any future contact._

_ "It only feels right because it was a last minute oh-my-God-I-want-to-know type of thing. It meant _nothing."

"_What I said was out of—"_

_ "It's true, though. Sure, I felt something at the moment, but who wouldn't? I would have to be a robot to not have my hormones go haywire, no matter the situation."_

_ "Hell, love," he swore, "Are you never going to wonder if there could be something more?"_

_ "Of course I am. But I'm never going to find out."_

_ "That's so…medieval. Like you're being forced to marry him."_

_ "Well, yeah," Rory said, starting to get irritated because his contradictions were making her logic sound like horseshit, "In a way I am. So I don't marry him. Then what? Go out with you until two weeks later when you find interest in some other poor, unsuspecting girl? I'll tell you right now that is one of the last things I want. Once I decline Logan's proposal, that's it. I'm done."_

_ "Rory, please…"_

_ "I will never find another guy like him. Ever."_

_ "Just think about it."_

_ "You'll ditch me…I'll be miserable. My goals will become foggy and my ambitions not so clear because I'll be concentrating on getting your dumbass back. I don't fly that way, Finn. You are not a commitment guy."_

_ "Neither was Logan! You managed to turn him around!"_

_ "Both of you are like potting clay. However, the one difference being that you have already been baked. I force you, you'll break. Logan hadn't been put in the oven yet so he was still moldable."_

_ Finn just blinked because, naturally, she made perfect sense, "This is what you want? Honestly?"_

_ "No doubt in my mind."_

_ "Even after…" he paused, "Even after my sister?"_

_ "Clay," Rory said simply and tilted her head, "Did you not understand? I'll explain again, if you like."_

_ "Uh, no. No, I got it."_

_ "Then what's up with you?"_

_ "I just…I just thought you were different, is all."_

_ "I am. I'm not some whore of a girl whose brains you screw out," she shot back. Rory instantly regretted it when she saw him inwardly wince at his own words being used against him._

_ "So this is how it's going to be?"_

_ "Yup."_

_ "All this ignorance?"_

_ "Yup."_

"_We're just going to forget? Just like that?"_

_ "It's not like there's anything to remember."_

_ "Right," Finn said blankly, a foreign look dimming his normally alert features._

_ When Rory saw Logan appear down the walk with his shoulders hunched and his hands in his pockets it felt something in similarity to walking in a dark, endless cavern with a flashlight, but suddenly have the flashlight go out._

_ She had to pick between Logan and Finn. She picked Logan. She picked logically. She picked what her brain said was right. She picked what her heart said was wrong._

_ Logan looked sunken when he approached them, the ring no where in sight. His eyes flicked momentarily between Finn and Rory as if deciding who was going to be executed first._

_ "So…" Rory prompted when he didn't immediately go for his best friend's throat._

_ "It's too much."_

_ "Huh?"_

_ "Too much…drama."_

_ "Logan, don't…please. No," she begged, feeling the tears start to squeeze their way out of her ducts._

_ "I can't take it. It's all around you," Rory stumbled backwards, knowing damn straight what was coming her way. This was all her fault. She fucked everything up so bad by kissing Finn back…the biggest mistake of her life. If she knew then that little thing would erupt into something so big, fierce and menacing, she would have never stepped foot in his apartment, "I can't marry you, Rory."_

**GGGG**

Rory jerked awake.

She whipped her head to the nightstand, checking the time.

Ten in the morning.

Dear, Lord.

She silently lifted Logan's heavy arm off her body and gasped as she sat up, '_Holy shit,'_ she thought_, 'That hurts.'_ Her mind was completely opaque as to the details of what she and her fiancé did all last night, but knew there was a lot of it.

With stiff legs and sore muscles, she stumbled out of bed and into the hallway, followed by the kitchen, followed by the bathroom. Cold, sweaty slick hands gripped the porcelain sink as she lifted her heavy head to force herself to look in the mirror. She had bags under her eyes and felt so terribly violated, she couldn't even think of words to explain it. She should have never had done that with Logan with the feelings for someone else warring inside her. It wasn't fair to either of them, or her sanity. She was disgusted by what she did, not just with how she did it, but the reasoning behind it.

Logan just happened to be there, so she had sex with him. If any other guy had been there, she would have done the same thing with him. All of those sucky ass feelings had to go somewhere and he just happened to be the victim.

She wasn't even aware that tears were dripping down her face and onto the floor as she made her way through the dreaded kitchen and into the 'winter' decorated living/common room. Her cell phone was tossed casually on a chair and she picked it up and shuffled back to the bathroom.

Quavering fingers typed in her mother's number, but Rory had to clear the screen several times because she kept entering the digits wrong as if she forgot what her own house number was.

Some powerful entity must have watching over her because her mother answered to phone on the first ring, "Rory!" she exclaimed, "You were supposed to be down yesterday afternoon!"

"M-mom…" she choked.

"Sweetie? Hon, is something wrong? What happened? 

"I-I…" Rory sobbed, "I think I made a mistake--"she had to stop because her phone clamored to the tile floor with a piercing sound. She sunk to her knees beside the toilet, staring down into the bowl before she spit out the excess saliva. A sickly groan escaped her before her whole body heaved and she threw up.

**GGGG**

_ Finn sat on the floor in front of his television, watching _Capote_ for the fourth time in a row. The point of the movie still escaped him no matter how long he tried concentrating on the screen or how many times he told himself that Rory liked it, so the point had to be there somewhere._

_ There was an empty pizza box on the floor beside him and he was still had on the AC/DC shirt he was wearing two days ago when he confronted Logan and told him everything. He cursed himself over and over again for messing the royal hell out of Rory's life. He wrecked everything for her. She was going to be happy, but he felt that his feelings that she didn't return were more important. Finn couldn't believe just how stupid he had been._

_ Now that he destroyed everything, he had to do everything in his power to put Rory and Logan's relationship back together. It nearly killed Finn as he stood up on legs that felt anesthetized. He saw his hand reach for the phone of the coffee table among many discarded takeout containers and empty mugs and dial Logan's number._

_ Shockingly, he answered, but it was an arctic greeting, "What?"_

_ "I…"_

_ "Spit it the fuck out, Finn, I'm busy."_

_ "Marry her," he managed to say._

_ "No."_

_ "Please, mate. You need to. I…I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you didn't."_

_ "Now wouldn't that be a crying shame."_

_ "Don't be an asshole. I forced her, Logan. She couldn't do anything about it," Logan didn't reply, so Finn continued, "Rory's in love with you, but her path to matrimony was blocked by my square-headedness."_

_ "What are you trying to say?"_

_ "It was all a mistake, and now you're denying something that's staring you in the face."_

_ "You're not Confucius, man, shut up."_

_ "Why won't you marry her?"_

_ "She had an affair with my best friend."_

_ "It wasn't an affair, you dumb bloke, it was a kiss."_

_ "Whatever."_

_ "It's the past," Finn let out a deep breath that he had been holding and laid down lifelessly on the couch, staring blankly at the ceiling, "It can't be fixed, but you can do something about the future."_

_ "I'm pissed off."_

_ "No shit."_

_ "I'm retarded."_

_ "No shit."_

_ "…Thanks, man."_

_ "Yeah…" Finn mumbled as he felt something strange and unknown to him burn behind his eyes, and pressed the little red button on his phone, causing the call to disconnect, "You're welcome."_

**A/N: So…sorry for the long update and the mild confusion of the way this chapter was set up and hopefully this made a teeny weeny bit of sense. Yes, some unfogging, here we go…there were four parts to this installment. Here is the order they happened chronologically right after the ending of the last chapter…**

** Part 2**

** Part 4**

** Part 1**

** Part 3**

**Better? I thought so…hehe. Reviews!!**


	7. An Attempt At Getting Her Heart Back

A/N: Ah, yes, time for another blessed update…Oh, hehe, I mislead you in my A/N last chapter, claiming that Rory and Finn wouldn't end up together

**A/N: Ah, yes, time for another blessed update…Oh, hehe, I mislead you in my A/N last chapter, claiming that Rory and Finn wouldn't end up together. I don't think that was such a hot idea because my reviews plummeted…drastically. Anyways, they totally will be with each other in the end; by the tenth chapter 'cause that's when I plan on ending this fic. 'Plan' being the key word here ; However, I have written myself in a fabulous little corner and am now trying how to get out of it…Hmmm.**

**Disclaimer: I own nada.**

Lorelai's day barely got started when she got a serious dose of reality in the form of the Third Lorelai throwing up; an extremely queer sound to be witnessed over telephone wires. Our blessed inn-owning Gilmore girl managed to get out of bed at nine o'clock, which was extraordinarily early for a weekend morning, showered at a very fast rate, fed Paul Anka, made a travel cup of coffee, grabbed her purse, and was making her way out of the door when she got her daughter's mysteriously frantic phone call.

Saturday just happened to be Double Chocolate Chip Muffin Day at Weston's and may Fran turn in her grave if Lorelai didn't show up for the first time in almost four years. It was tradition for her and Rory to completely book it and make it to the bakery before ten in the morning, which almost always when Weston's ran out of stock. Luke was guaranteed to pique by the time the girls showed up, armed with two bagfuls of his competitor's pastries. Now that she and Luke were at a dead lock in their relationship, friendly or romantic, Lorelai basically had nobody who would grumble and get their panties in a twist at the sight of muffins; she was a little pissed off.

Pissed off because she was deprived of her fake boastfulness and pissed off because her home phone picked a dandy time to ring.

Knowing she hadn't talked to Rory since she made the announcement in the gazebo short of a week ago that she was marrying Logan, Lorelai bolted to the source of the aggravating sound, dropping her purse on the ground. Mother and daughter had an engagement to meet yesterday to discuss the imperative things that a wedding usually induced, but the younger decided that she would just skip it. What was it that a college senior a few days from graduating, who had a boyfriend, a school paper deadline to make, and a crazy ass Friday night dinner she had to attend at her grandmother's was so damn important?

"You were supposed to down yesterday afternoon!" was the first thing she exclaimed, not really caring in the least if the person at the other end was Rory or not. If it wasn't she'd make them feel bad as well.

"M-mom…"

"Sweetie?" Lorelai asked, suddenly worried. Never in her life had she heard her daughter sound like that before. It was a begging, struggling sound that made her insides twist around in a bad way. The voice that she heard through the phone was something in similarity to an old dying army general saying his last dying words, "Hon, is something wrong?" Her face suddenly drained of all color, worst case scenarios running through her mind, "What happened?"

"I-I," she heard Rory sob, "I think I made a mistake—" the last of her words were cut off because the next thing Lorelai knew, a clamoring sound filled up her ear. She instantly knew it was the sound of the contact device at the other end hitting the floor.

"Rory?" she said, hearing nothing, "Rory!"

Then Lorelai did hear something. It would be absolutely impossible to mistake the sound. Her kid was throwing up.

She had not the foggiest idea of what to do. Her feet found themselves pacing the span of the carpet of the living room, watching the hand of the clock slowly tick by ten o'clock. She'd miss Muffin Day. Weston's could suffer through the 2.75 they were missing from her contribution because there was something seriously wrong with the person she loved most in the world. The sound was ragged and choking at the other end of the line and Lorelai felt tears burn at the corner of her stunning blue eyes because she could do nothing to help. It might have been something as minor as a stomach cold, quite possibly the thing that kept Rory away yesterday, but it still pained her mother to grow through the thing she was listening to. About to hang up and rush down to Yale, she heard someone who was sure as hell not Rory roaring into the phone, "Finn, you stupid fucking idiot! What did you say to her?!"

"Logan Huntzburger," Lorelai growled into the phone in a tone she didn't recognize, "I would highly suggest getting you rich ass in gear and tending to your fiancé before making a blatantly false accusation of who she was talking to."

"L-Lorelai?"

"Yes, you moron! Do I sound like Finn to you?"

"Er- no ma'am, I just thought—"

"If you do not find out what's wrong with Rory, I'll make sure that you never have the ability to think again," that dangerous tone was back.

"She's fine now…she must have had the flu or something…" was his bored response.

"Was she like this the day before?"

"Uh, no. She was alright."

"I'll be there in twenty minutes," Lorelai snapped into the phone, hanging up before Logan could explain what was going on and jammed it into its charger.

**GGGG**

When Rory Gilmore came to, she was lying on the couch in her and Logan's apartment covered with a fleece blanket, her neck supported by a pillow. She must have whacked her head on something when she passed out after hurling all of the contents of her stomach into a toilet because she groaned as she made a rather poor attempt at sitting up, everything above her shoulders pounding way worse than anything a hangover could deliver. The last thing she could remember formerly to the walls and objects around her going black was that she—

Oh, God.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Rory tried her best to purge herself of memory, positively revolted with what she had done. She was about call out to Logan, wondering if he was even there, when she heard two people arguing from somewhere in the kitchen.

"I just figu—"

"_Why?_" she heard her mother ask, her voice straining. Rory was confused as to what possibly brought Lorelai to Yale, but then she realized that she was person she was talking to before all she knew slipped away.

"You know why!"

"No, as a matter of fact, Nick, I don't!" Nick? Who--? Oh…dawned on her. Nick Carter. You couldn't deny the humor in that statement.

"She never told you?"

"Told me what?"

"About…you know…I'm positive you were told. Rory wouldn't just not notify you."

"Huntzburger, I'd appreciate it if you filled me in," she heard Lorelai prompt. Rory felt her whole body go cold, cursing herself over and over again for not explaining the whole situation.

"The whole deal with Finn?"

"What _deal?_"

"No!" Rory shouted, pushing herself off the couch despite feeling wobbly when standing up and her skull threatening to split down the middle, "Logan, don't…" she could sense her mom would surprised to see her arise, "I'll tell her."

"I can do it, Ace," her said softly, placing her hand on her should to guide her back down to the couch, "You shouldn't be up."

"I got this," Rory said through her teeth, pulling away from his touch and making eye contact with Lorelai, signaling to step out into the hall.

She followed her mother out the door, crossing her arms about her chest which sported a Hollywood Planet t-shirt she got in an Atlantic City mini-mart when she celebrated turning the wonderful age of twenty-one, "I don't understand," the eldest started, "how you couldn't tell me you slept with someone besides Logan…"

Rory shook her head, "…I didn't sleep with—how did you know it involved another guy?"

To her utter shock, she saw Lorelai smile, "Come on, Rory. I've been on this earth sixteen years longer than you. I've also been around the block a few more times and during my travels I've picked up the signals."

"…signals?" she felt sick as she asked this, knowing that the being standing before her was nothing less than on target.

"For one, you looked abnormally under par when you told me you'd be marrying the guy standing on the other side of this wall. For two, I've barely talked to you since then and if I did it was nothing about Logan or the most important day of your life, but about how you had a headache for the past three days and the status of how you were running out of coffee filters…"

"Well I was," Rory said a sorry attempt in backing herself up. A vacuous expression surrounded her because she knew her mother was right. Not only was she feeling desecrated for what she did with and to the blond male she had been going out with for the past three years of her life, but she had a dishonest sensation cascade on her for keeping something so vital from the one individual she had based her whole existence off of, and the ridiculous standpoint she had developed with Finn.

"For three," Lorelai continued, "you were not sick yesterday. I know this. I know you. That gives no describable reason as to why you were puking your brains out two hours ago. You did something with Logan last night, Rory, I'm not that stupid. You also did something with Finn. What you want from one guy and want from the other are clashing. It sucks. I've been through it."

"…Mom," she said quietly, the look in her eyes pleading, "What do I do?"

"Follow your heart, kid," was the simple response, "Not your head."

Rory lifted her hand to her mouth to try and stop the sob that threatened to come out, "…I can't….its been dejected."

Lorelai took a deep breath and gradually let it out as she wrapped her daughter in a comforting hug, "Well," she said softly, "I suggest you go wail on the guy who did the dejecting."

**GGGG**

Standing outside of Finn's apartment door, Rory pulled her long reddish-brown hair into a ponytail, fixed her polo, manually tried to get the wrinkles out of her jeans and actually, genuinely smiled for the first time in many, many days.

She was going to do this. She was going to get her heart back and put it back together. Once Finn opened the door and saw her standing in the hall, he would apologize, say he was wrong for what he did while Rory would nod, understanding, and tell him the same thing. They would then agree that what they did many nights ago was predestined to happen; they had been friends and in close social and physical contact. It was only natural that they try to see if they could maybe take it a step farther previous to the 't's being crossed and the 'i's being dotted with her and Logan. Rory knew that she and Finn kissed. Maybe a little more than that, but she decided that it was all animalistic instinct and literally meant nothing. In order to move on in the future, she had to fix the holes in the past. In order to do this, their friendship had to be restored and the ongoing fight inside of her head between what was supposedly right and wrong has to be resolved. This had to be done. Now.

Rory rose her hand, clenching in a non-menacing fist to knock on his door to get this whole…disaster over with just when a buxom, bouncy blonde with boobs that would make Dolly Parton advise reduction surgery came bounding down the hallway, her cami tank-top squeezing all the blood to her face, "Sorry!" she said cheerfully, twisting around the star of the story to do the actual deed. She then turned as if noticing Rory for the first time, stuck out her pink nail polished hand and said in a brilliant tone, "Hi, I'm Chrissy!"

Smiling, Rory shook her hand; happy to meet what she supposed was Finn's girlfriend. This was good. Moving on was good, "Hey, Chrissy, I'm Rory," avid to match the other girl's happy demeanor, she added, "It's nice to meet you."

Chrissy's immediately collapsed, "Oh."

Tilting her head, Rory asked, "…is that bad?"

"It's just…" the chipper playmate mocker said, "…I thought he said you guys were over."

"Over?" she questioned, really lost, "We never got started."

"Well Finn said—"

"I don't like liars very much," Rory said with a definite sting in her comment, "Do you?"

The blonde realized that she was talking to someone that is not to be messed with and said, "No. Not at all."

"I'm glad," she managed fit in before the one man that had been haunting her nightmares and daydreams answered the knock. His mop of dark hair was styled with and artful laziness that complimented his green eyes in a way Rory never noticed before and made her pulse pound so hard she was sure everyone within a hundred twenty-two miles could hear it. He had god-like sculpted biceps that played with the sleeve of his shirt in manner that ensured that her sanity would never be restored until he had his arms wrapped around her one last time. She saw him stare straight through the bimbo standing obliviously between them and Rory dared make eye contact with the guy that caused the entire rationality bolt out of her head like it was on a treadmill built for the Roadrunner.

The look linking them together for those limited and precious seconds could have powered London after it was hit by a nuclear disaster.

Oh, shit.

This definitely wasn't good.

**N/A: Bam! That hit you like a brick in the face, did it not? I loooove reviews. Yes, sireee, Bob**.


	8. It Boils Down To Two Options

A/N: First of all, sorry for not updating for the past…

**A/N: First of all, sorry for not updating for the past….two weeks, I think. I had to attend a wedding the other day, along with some other crazy ass stuff I won't bother you with. Anyways, this chapter is focusing a **_**lot**_** on the whole Finn/Rory deal instead of dwelling on her and Logan. Hopefully, I'll actually nail down a few boards in this installment as a replacement for just lazily tossing on a few loose ones. So…hope you like it!!**

**Disclaimer: To be brutally frank, I don't even know why I bother…**

Rory Gilmore was almost solidly positive that if Finn wasn't slobbering drunk, this whole ordeal of approaching him and fixing everything for once and for all would have gone quite swimmingly. On the contrary, seeing as he had trouble managing to put simple one syllable words together to form a complete sentence, Rory felt is was safe to presuppose that it would be an overall wonderful idea to just walk away; to forget and just leave it all behind. To hell with Finn! To hell with all of it! She knew she could have left unnoticed by the Aussie. That was, however, until Chrissy opened up her damn big fat mouth, "I think you should talk to Rory first, Finny dear."

"…What?" he asked, mystified, a feeling that wasn't helped by the amount of alcohol raging through his system. Rory saw him peer around the bottle blond, laying those gorgeous green eyes on her blue ones.

"Chrissy," Rory said, hastily shifting her glance to her, "I think you should leave."

"But I—"

"I don't believe I could care less," was the brash response, "Plus…." She grimaced, "I'm going to be here a while."

Chrissy, surprisingly, smiled, "No problem!" and then bounced cheerfully back around the corner, only to turn at the last second and shape her thumb and pinky finger into a vague resemblance of a phone and mouth the words, 'Call me,' to Finn.

Irritated, Rory grabbed him by the sleeve of his shirt and dragged him back into the apartment, completely opaque to the goofy look on his face,

"Christ, that girl's a good header…" he grumbled, not all minding being towed around.

It took a few seconds for Rory to figure out what Finn was talking about, once she did she just rolled her eyes, "I have no doubt. Um…when was the last time you were sob--?"

As soon as the door was closed, she was roughly pushed against it and Finn's hands were on her hips, anchoring her to the exit. The next thing Rory knew, he was right up against her, his unyielding body plastered right to hers, "You're so fucking beautiful, Gilmore…" he murmured into her neck. She felt the jagged edge of his stubble on her skin and smelled the unmistakable aroma of Jack Daniels on his breath. Instead undergoing shock like every other sane person on God's green earth, she had a ridiculous sense of being…being _turned on_, for Chrissakes.

Uh-oh.

"_No_," she growled forcefully, shoving him back. As she suspected, he was as pliable as Saran Wrap and dumbly stumbled over his feet, crashing into the kitchen counter island behind him.

"Rory," he slurred, "Don't be like that, love."

She flitted around the kitchen, opening up random cabinets and drawers only to slam them shut, apparently searching high and low for something, "Where the _hell_ is your coffee?" she asked, frustrated.

"Coffee?" he tilted his head to the side, confused and then shrugged, "I dunno..."

"Wonderful."

"What d'ya need coffee for?" he pronounced 'for' like 'fur' which went ignored by Rory.

"...or maybe bread?" she continued, "You must have bar peanuts somewhere around here...you're constantly smashed, so there's no ethical reason as to why you don't have a can or two floating about...I swear, Mel would be proud of you..."

"I'm not in a bar..." Finn drawled, then suddenly snapped his head up, his eyes darting around wildly, "Wait, am I?!"

"No."

"Then why'd you say 'bar peanuts'?"

"Water!" she exclaimed, running over to the sink, grabbing the pot from the coffee maker on her way to the sink.

"Why...?"

"I need you sober," was Rory's explanation, shoving the coffee pot in front of him, loaded up with clear liquid instead of brown.

"I am sober!" Finn justified, straightening his back and pronouncing each syllable carefully. Proving him wrong, she pointed to the counter; at least half a dozen empty liquor bottles sat together in a clump, "I didn't drink all those..." he made a poor attempt at explaining.

"So Chrissy helped you, did she now?"

He shook his head, "Mikayla did," was the truthful answer.

"Please tell her," Rory muttered, not quite having the foggiest idea of who Mikayla was. She gathered all of the drained bottles in her arms, awkwardly making her way to the trash barrel on the other side of the stove, "thank-you for me."

"Huh? Sorry, I didn't catch that one..."

"Nevermind."

"No, what was it?"

"Nothing of importance."

Clearly forgetting what they had been talking about, Finn said, "I have a bloody flaming headache..."

"I can't imagine why," Rory said dryly. As if defeated, she leaned against the counter, exasperated, not believing that she had managed to get the guts to actually come over here in the first place, but baby-sit a drunkard to boot? "This is ridiculous..." the brunette sighed, lazy dragging a hand through her hair. Logan's engagement ring glittered in the setting sunlight, a constant reminder of what she was there for; something needed to get done. Quickly. "You know what?" she said, reaching behind her to dig out a few dollar bills from the back pocket of her jeans, "I'll go buy some..." as she was counting the money, she asked, "Where's the nearest Dunkin Donuts?" However, halfway through her sentence she realized that if Finn had no idea if he had coffee in the flat, there was no way that he would know—

"Go three blocks down Second and it'll be the first on your right."

"Good," she said, pushing herself away from the counter, "I'll be right back."

"Wait," he said abruptly, holding up one hand like a police officer commanding traffic.

"Why? Did you suddenly remember where the damn coffee is? Because if you did, that'd be real helpful, you know."

Finn's eyes suddenly widened, a light bulb going off in his head, "Yes."

"Oh, yeah?" she stopped on her journey out the door and instead propped herself up on the kitchen island by placing the palms of her hands on the counter and then using the motion of her elbows to lift her lithe body up. She let her feet hang down and crossed her arms about her chest which sported a dark blue polo, "Where?" she narrowed her brow towards him, a sheer challenge if you ever did see one.

"In the fridge," he said quickly, pushing Rory's comment of his crappy place to put coffee in the back of his brain. When he saw her move the slightest bit, about to go retrieve the makings The Wonder Beverage, he lightly reprimanded her, "No, no, Reporter Girl, I'll get it."

"Finn, you can't even walk," she protested from her perch.

"Aha, you underestimate me, eh?"

"Just a little bit, to be honest."

"I'll have you know that I am one of the best drunk drivers in all of New England."

"Fantastic, really. Yet I don't see—" Rory tried, but she once again got interrupted, for the next moment a full bag of Folger's coffee was dropped gently down next to her on the island, a pleased look decorating Finn's face, "Uh...well," she stuttered, "Congratulations."

"That was very heartfelt, Gilmore, I'm proud."

"Okay..." she paused to think a moment, "Alright. Yes. You drink that..._all_ of it, don't be cheap and slack off. I'll be back in...uh...a few hours. I have things to explain, stuff to organize and..." Rory wandered off, finding it pointless to start telling him all of these things when Finn felt that to prove himself worthy, he had to retrieve a bag of coffee from a refrigerator.

"Alas, but before you go..." he said slowly, pushing the coffee grounds aside to stand right in front of her. The position of how and where she was sitting was extraordinarily odd, thus why her knees that were bent at the edge of the counter were lined up with his belly button; "I need to know why you were here in the first place..." his voice was low, just barely above a whisper. The way he said it and the tightening of the muscles in his shoulders made Rory want to immediately hop right off the island start an agonizing search of a presentable excuse.

"I...I, uh...wanted to...um..."

"Tell me, Rory..." he breathed, his chest rising and falling noticeably as he leaned forward, placing his large, callused hands on her knees.

She knew exactly what he was going to do next before he even did it, yet the angelic Stars Hollow inhabitant found a shaky tone from somewhere deep inside her to try and stabilize her argument, "I came t-t—" she took a large insecure breath and started over again, "I came to get my pride back."

"Oh?" Finn responded, a slight rise to his eyebrows, "Is that so?" With each slow, ticking second, she felt both of his hands on her knees gradually seem to become heavier and heavier. Not quite sure of herself, Rory made an attempt at nodding anyways, "Or is it your faithfulness you want back?" he asked, "The guilt of cheating on you fiancé with his best friend is just eating away at you, isn't it?"

Squaring her jaw, she growled a response, "I did not cheat on Logan."

"Yes you did, pet. Yes you did," he repeated, "I was there when it happened."

"It was only a k-k..." she had trouble continuing because his hands firmly gripped what they were resting on, and despite the weak bodily protest of her legs, Finn pulled them easily apart with almost no effort. Physical effort, that is, "...kiss," she finished faintly.

Finn chuckled, for he knew he was in complete control of this girl's emotions, and it scared the hell out of him, "Who's to say that we would've stopped right then and there if he hadn't have called?" His agile fingers smoothly worked their way up the outside of her thighs around to her lower back, where he sharply pulled her towards him so she slid along the counter and met his stomach, square and sudden.

Rory then knew that she had been manipulated and twisted into so many ways, it made her brain hurt because at that very moment she was vertically straddling his middle, hot and hammering right up against him. Now that her privacy was shot, there was absolutely no voice to be found at all. However, instead of seeing that power she knew would appear in his eyes, she saw a look of something else flash for the briefest of all portions of time. A look a treasure hunter would abruptly own when he stumbles across something true and sacred that no human being with any self respect would gloat about, was now in Finn's possession. Naturally, the expression was gone quicker than it had appeared.

"I know you are perfectly aware of what the supposed 'kiss' would have turned into, Gilmore..." Finn whispered, his mouth so damn close to brushing her cheek, she was on the verge of screaming. Those unbridled hands from hell had the heat of those of the devil as they thoroughly massaged her thighs, slowly but surely making their way up, "because I can feel it pounding and searing against me."

"S-stop...Finn," she begged, an impulsive move brought her shaky hands to grasp his t-shit, twisting the hem for all she was worth. She swore on her life she heard the cloth tear, "Please...d-d...don't," Not out of pain, fear, hurt, sadness or discomfort was the reason a tear built up in the corner of her crystal blue eyes and made it ragged, unsure journey down her cheek, but out of want.

Pure and carnal want.

Excruciatingly, he pulled away, drawing feelings of yearning and lust out of the both of them as Finn gently reached out his hand and brushed the tear softly away with the pad of his thumb, a shocking change from his rough ways only a short instant ago, "Now you know what it feels like, don't you, Rory?" he asked, foreseeing the answer.

She didn't respond, but instead closed her legs, feeling way more exposed just now than she ever had in her whole entire twenty-two years of living, and lightly closed the gap between her and the floor by finally getting of the damn counter.

"To want someone that you know dreadfully well you can't have so fucking bad that it brings you straight down to your knees..." as if on cue, Rory reached out to the island knowing that she'd collapse if she didn't hold on to something soon, "It sucks, doesn't it? Yeah, it does suck, I tell you. That's exactly what I've been going through for the past week," Finn saw her break eye contact and instead focus on the floor, "Look at me," he commanded, and she did, standing upright, too and leveling her shoulders to stare at him right on, just like Orion with his arrows, "I don't know what this is, Reporter Girl. It's definitely lust, I know that. I also know that there is an awfully thin line between lust and love, so I may be getting confused...so that's why I'm giving you two options..."

"And what're those?" she asked, her voice grainy and thick.

"Option number one: I take you my way, right here, right now, on the tile kitchen floor," her facial expression didn't change in the slightest, so he went on the next one," Or option number two: You go home and tell your precious Logan that it's officially over and off. No more dicking around and that it's finished. All wrapped up."

Rory shook her head, "Option number three: After said wrapping, I come back tonight and then we do it...do it _right._"

With a slight smile to his features, Finn stepped forward, and held out his hand, "I believe we're in business."

They shook on it, Rory creating a bond with the one person on the planet who could manage to get away with violating her so brutally both physically and emotionally, yet she could arrange something correctly with him, like two civilized beings.

**A/N: Thoughts? Comments? Questions?**


	9. Overview

Disclaimer: I own nothing

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Alas, this whole 'chapter' is going to be an 'A/N' hence it being pointless to bold everything.

M'kay…so…this is the end. Ayuh, the end of my epic fanfiction.

First of all, thank-you every single person out there who bothered to read this and stick it out until the end, it is greatly appreciated.

We all know what happened after Rory and Finn shook on it…it's not a mystery. Logan partially understood everything that was going on, so he got why Rory couldn't marry him in the end. Yes, I could have written a whole fluff chapter with the PDLD making out…shrugs If any of you think that's how I should conclude this fic, so be it; just leave a review or something and let me know :

Throughout this whole process, I realize just how many grammatical and OOC errors I made and looking back on previous chapters, I visibly cringe. This, to a degree, may be a fault deriving from the fact that I didn't have the whole thing planned out before I wrote it…I just kind of went with the flow. Not such a hot idea in the end.

Soon I'll be back, armed with improved story telling ammunition and (hopefully) a better plot line. Cheers to all of you and thanks a billion, again.

(fyi) I won't normally conclude a fic with a non-story entry like this…it's only a one time deal because of the whole 'my first fanfic' thing. Apologies if this got your hopes up, or whatever…

Overall thoughts or critiques on the story would be great if you're willing.

And now…disappears in a cloud of chalk dust…I'm out.


End file.
